Stop This Mess
November 20th, 2023
I feel like I have less and less to say at the beginning of these newsletters when I have saved and added as much of my daily note-taking about albums in here. I would love to know if readers - if you’re out there haha - would prefer a “the more the merrier” approach like I am taking now or if they would rather a tightened up version. I also rarely include my thoughts on records that fall towards the “didn’t like” end of the spectrum and I’d be interested in hearing if people would find that useful for me to include.
As always, let me know on Twitter what you’re listening to and what has been scratching your itch! And if you’re the discord type, I can be found hanging out over on the Rosy Overdrive discord server - a chill and fun place to chat about music!
Don’t forget, if you’re reading this in email that the full length version will only be available on the web! Email version will be cut off due to how long it is…
Bad Idols - Popstar (Say-10 Records)
Genre: Pop-punk, Power Pop, Indie Rock
Scrappy indie pop-punk with a few brief moments of ska-upstrokes; the more I sit with this the more I like it. At times they sound like they're just barely keeping their songs together, and yet elsewhere they've got some tight melodies on stuff like "No Surprise." I like that they dollop in a little skate punk EpiFat elements like on the opening stretch of "Worm." I think this would otherwise be a real down the middle three-star album but as always I'm rooting for bands like this to keep existing and it makes me happy hearing this kind of thing so I gotta give them some slack and bump it up a half-star.
RIYL: Sarchasm, Teenage Halloween, Two Thumbs Down, Doki Doki etc.
Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
Genre: Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
Aesop Rock is back with more... Aesop Rock! They've been kind of quietly prolific in the past few years, never letting too long go by without some kind of release - their collab with Tobacco in 2019, a new LP in 2020, a video game soundtrack in 2020, a return to working with Blockhead in 2021, etc.
In some ways, it has been a little hard to keep up since Impossible Kid or Skelethon because so much of Aesop Rock's style has been set and locked since around None Shall Pass honestly. Have always been, and will continue to be, a huge fan but there was maybe a sense of finding it hard to keep up and think about all these albums on their own terms for me. I can tell you that I listened to Malibu Ken, Spirit World Field Guide and Garbology but I can't tell you a whole lot about them other than their differences in production and maybe thematically. They all felt pretty of a piece quality wise (i.e. good but didn't bowl me over.) The Impossible Kid was probably the last one that hit me in the gut and had me listening over and over.
That said, while this is more self-produced Aesop (that's a good thing! I love their production work) it's a dense slab of 64 minutes, I still think it's of a high quality and I will be coming back to this some more. There's maybe something to be said about the technology theme being a pinch corny or that it being this long makes it hard to fully absorb but I think Aes pulls it off to be honest.
Some time could tell if this one grows even more on me or lands as it has as an above-average effort.
Blockhead - The Aux (Baxkwoodz Studioz)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop & Rap
For years Blockhead has been mostly alternating between instrumental releases (like Bells & Whistles, Funeral Balloons, Quar and Peace etc.) and artist specific collaborations (their Lipphead releases with Eliot Lipp or producer work for billy woods, Aesop Rock, etc.).
When I saw the feature list on this one though it felt like something different. Yes they put out Free Sweatpants in 2019, another "stack the tracklist with features" producer album, but this tracklist takes stacked to another level. Quelle Chris, Open Mike Eagle, Armand Hammer, Breezly Brewin, RXKNephew, Danny Brown, billy woods, and the list goes on.
And the material rises to the occasion - worst thing you could say is maybe the production feels a little samey over 50+ minutes, but that's Blockhead. I like their production and so that doesn't bother me much. All the features are sick and the whole thing rounds out with a wild posse cut called "Now That's What I Call a Posse Cut Vol. 56." haha. Also just stoked to get a really amazing RXKNephew track here. I love their work generally but they definitely put out a ton of material that ranges in quality at a high rate so it can be hard to keep up.
The past few years I've really gravitated towards albums that act as huge grab-bags of rap styles (i.e. Quakers II: The Next Wave) and this totally scratches that itch. I'll be coming back to this a bunch for the rest of the year for sure.
Ex Everything - Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart (Neurot Recordings)
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock
Really solid noise-rock / post-hardcore stuff. I kept hearing other bands in this and thinking "this sounds like the members were in bands I knew and loved" but then I looked up all their other bands and they weren't who I was thinking of. It makes sense though because some of those bands - These Arms are Snakes, Birds in Row, Jesus Lizard, Frodus, etc. - show up on their "Citation Analysis" playlist (great idea and playlist name btw.)
In actuality, it features members of Kowloon Walled City, Early Graves, Mercy Ties, Blowupnihilist, Less Art and more.
I think this is all around very strong and the vibe and riffs get me a long way, but part of me feels there's something missing to get me over the top into flipping my lid about it. If you like this kind of thing you should check this out for sure. Could very well be a grower too.
Phony - Heater (Counter Intuitive Records)
Genre: Emo, Indie-Rock, Alt Rock
I really dug this, it sits in an interesting place in punk/indie-rock these days where it doesn't lean too far into that emo/alt-grunge genre but it definitely has that DNA in here as well. Skirts any kind of shoegaze texture that sometimes comes along with that genre instead for hooky immediacy of poppy punk and power-pop or even some jangle-pop.
Reminds me a bit of stuff like Options, and Donovan Wolfington came to my mind before realizing that Neil Berthier was a former member of that (underrated!) band. And at 20 minutes it definitely has a leave you wanting more thing going on.
Buck 65 - Super Dope (Handsmade)
Genre: Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Jazz Rap
Have not really been interested in Buck 65 for a while now, but a friend of mine mentioned that his last couple albums have been really interesting since Buck has gone back to "their old voice" and are just "rapping their ass off" now.
And they were right! It's pretty weird to hear someone who leaned so heavily into something - the gravelly storyteller that started appearing on Man Overboard or Weirdo Magnet in 2002 and really took center stage on the country tinged Talkin' Honky Blues in 2003.
Here they are fully back to the weird higher pitched voice that was heard on their earliest releases. But instead of being backed by underground weirdo beats, here vintage hip-hop aping turntablism, breakbeats and soul samples seems to be the focus.
It works pretty well, and just feels like a good time for 40 minutes. A real surprise for me who fell off Buck circa like, 2004 or 5.
Fuming Mouth - Last Day of Sun (Nuclear Blast)
Genre: Death Metal, Metalcore
Definitely doesn't hit me as hard as The Grand Descent did when it came out, but also not sure about this being some huge disappointment that some people seem to be making it out to be. Worst thing I could say about this is that it's too long, and that maybe it feels like a "band figuring out which direction they want to move in" album, but it does the trick for me. I think I'm just not picky when it comes to heavy stuff and it either hits the spot or it doesn't? This did for me today.
Chinese Telephones - Outta My Hands (Self-released)
Genre: Pop Punk, Power-Pop
Feel like the only thing more surprising than a new EP from Chinese Telephones (their first release since what, 2009?) is that they came back without changing their name. Their 2007 LP is one of the best pop punk releases of the 2000s so it's easy to be a little let down by it being only three new songs and a cover. They've slowed down a pinch and dialed up the power-pop a bit, but the three new songs are a-OK to me.
Of all the bands from that era of pop-punk revival I think this group could be the closest to pull off an Alcatraz-esque left turn, and I'd be super here for it. For now this is just a nice taste but would be very interested to see if they attempt another full length.
Up Dog - Getting Worse (Otitis Media Records)
Genre: Emo, Pop-Punk, Ska Punk
Sits so incredibly close to the Rosenstockian blend of "anthemic punk / indie rock / throw some ska in there too" that it's hard to tell where their influences start and end. A moment or two of this is almost uncomfortably close to specific songs you could point at as inspiration but there's so much of this stuff going around these past few years that it's hard to fault the band. I like all of what's going on here so I had a good 23 minutes but I'm also not sure it does enough to stand out from the pack entirely.
Dying Wish - Symptoms of Survival (SHARPTONE)
Genre: Metalcore
Another one where I don't know how to accurately describe what does or does not work here, I just know that it lands in my gut and rips pretty hard to my ears. I've never had a problem with "cleans" in heavy music so I dunno what people are on about when they complain about them on what seems like any album that has them haha. This shit is good and heavy as hell, particularly the second half seems to really hit a stride that I dug.
Closet Witch - Chiaroscuro (Moment of Collapse Records)
Genre: Grindcore, Powerviolence, Emoviolence
18 minutes of blink and you'll miss it emoviolence / grindcore / powerviolence. Does exactly what it says on the tin. That's what I was in the mood for this morning, and that's what I got. The moments with grooves and breakdowns etc. are sparing but they stand out against how intense the rest of the record is at most times.
Vantage Point - Against Myself (Triple B Records)
Genre: Hardcore Punk
Hardcore band from Boston releasing an album on Triple B records... what do you think it's going to sound like? 17 minutes of not reinventing the wheel, basically.
Sits right smack in that 90s hardcore sound with some songs leaning into the punk side of the genre ("A Reminder") and others leaning into the chugga chugga metallic riffery ("Tired of Looking Back") of the genre.
Tough to rate this because you've heard this kind of thing a million times before, but it also retains the effective hit of adrenaline you expect from the genre.
I got on a bit of a ska kick these past few weeks, so here’s my thoughts on that and a whole lot more of non-2023 releases I’ve been listening to.
Choking Victim - No Gods / No Managers (1999, Hellcat Records)
Genre: Ska Punk
I've never really vibed with the Hellcat subsection of punk/ska and psychobilly so I always avoided this as a result. I dunno, something about all that Rancid adjacent stuff just feels so... put on. That said when dewtaylo logged this it sounded like it would actually be right up my alley.
Most of the ska-punk hybrid stuff here is a lot more palatable for me than I had expected. Almost like the snotty/bratty ska-punk of Assorted Jelly Bean's debut but with more crusty attitude to their lyrics and atmosphere.
That doesn't stop something like "Crack Rock Steady" from sounding, honestly, truly embarrassing. I'm all for songs about killing cops and eating the rich etc. but when they go full reggae/ska they just absolutely cannot pull it off. Give me the speedy intensity of "Suicide" or "Money" elbowing up against scrawled upstrokes over that any day.
It's interesting because their straight punk songs too seem to suffer from that imbalance, with "Fucked Reality" sounding almost half of a song. Maybe I'm just too old to fully buy into the vocal performance and lyrics of that kinda stuff anymore? haha.
Thankfully the majority of the album hits that good mix and so this landed for me a lot better than I thought it would. If this was a 20 - 25 minute EP instead of a 42 minute LP I'd probably be giving it four stars.
MU330 - MU330 (1999, Asian Man Records)
Genre: Ska Punk
Dan Potthast, main songwriter for MU330, would go on to be a touring member of the Bruce Lee Band,and perform with Jeff Rosenstock in concert and on record. This album is probably the pinnacle of their "what if a ska-punk band but more enormous hooks?" style.
To be honest, I think that throughout their career they never delivered a top-to-bottom classic and if you collect the best songs from all of them you probably have a masterpiece. On here you have the one-two opening punch of "Vow Vow" and "Favourite Show", the latter which has a hook that stays in my head for days if not months. "Pool Party," "Stagnant Water," "Rocket Fuel," "Lincoln" and others are no slouches either.
On their self-titled release MU330 might come off as one of the less "punk" of all the bands that get put into the ska-punk territory but traces of it still show up here regardless. I guess by this I just mean that they stray further from the "play fast power chords, add horns" ska-core/ska-punk you might expect from the genre. Or even the "psycho ska" of their earlier releases that had more punk and even metal riffs at times. Here, there's a bunch of power-pop and indie-rock in their sound alongside the expected moments of more straight forward ska. "Lincoln" almost sounds like a Nick Lowe song by way of Weezer plus ska horns.
Regardless, the songs never stray too far from good on here, with the handful that pierce into great territory it certainly is above-average for the genre.
Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb (2003, Pentimento Music Co.)
Genre: Ska Punk
Seems crazy this is already 20 years old? It dropped in August of the year I went to college and I was already a big fan of Catch 22's Keasbey Nights from my time in High School. I remember excitedly sending the MP3s to a new friend on the College network who liked similar music to me. and bonding over how dope it was.
Four years later Somewhere in the Between soundtracked my weed smoke filled first year of living in Toronto. Have never been able to get into their third record but maybe that's just because they had already provided the soundtrack to two life changes and their third didn't really line up the way those two did.
If there's any downside to this album it's maybe the length of some of these songs, but the whole thing still flies by the same way it did when I was in College.
Big Success - Big Success (2011, Big Scary Monsters)
Genre: Indie Rock, Noise Pop
11 minutes of the kind of exuberant power-pop-punk and indie-rock melting pot that only bands from the UK seem to be able to pull off just right. If you like that kind of thing that Doe or Woahnows or bands on Alcopop! were doing then you will probably like this.
Features members of the band Pennines, plus members of Big Success went on to release an EP as Rest and Relaxation in 2018.
Woahnows - Understanding and Everything Else (2015, Big Scary Monsters)
Genre: Noise Pop
Really underrated stuff that kind of sounds like if the ebullient energy of Los Campesinos! was applied to really hooky noisy power-pop with a sprinkle of pop-punk. That kind of slashed octave chord melodies and noise-pop approach to stuffing hooks in every corner. They dip into less energetic approaches that sound a bit more like your average noisy indie-pop band ("Puncher") and it still really works. They put out a pretty solid one in 2019 as well.
O Pioneers!!! - Neon Creeps (2009, Asian Man Records / Kiss Of Death Records)
Genre: Orgcore, Punk Rock, Post-Hardcore
Remember catching this band at my local venue around the time of this album's release. Really felt like they were going to take off huge but Neon Creeps feels wildly slept on? 3 reviews and less than 100 ratings, weird.
"9 A.M. Everyday" is the track that I always think of when I think about this record. You'll see this described as pop-punk and orgcore but I actually think this LP sits in a place that kind of defies easier definitions. I'd probably point to bands like Hard Girls or Shinobu who similarly play punk/indie kind of stuff with the orgcore gruffness and melodic sensibilities, but who also aren't just slashing out three or four power chords. There's a lot of Bear vs. Shark in here as well and maybe even a sprinkle of traditional orgcore acts like Arms Aloft. I even hear a bit of Call Me Lightning in their guitar work here and there.
Lots of beer soaked songs about mental health struggles, "Stressing the Fuck Out," and how everything is gonna be alright. I think this would be a bit higher if they pushed a little harder on the hook side of things - these songs aren't really built around choruses, and that seems kind of part of the point to me, but it does lead to some of the songs being less memorable than others. When they do build up to that kind of sweaty basement show singalong moments on stuff like "9 A.M. Everyday" it really works.
Still, weirdly underrated or at least overlooked these days.
The Fizzgigs - Weeeeeeeeeeeee are the Fizzgigs (2020, Self-released)
Genre: Pop-Punk, Skate Punk
Two members of Belvedere round out this pop-punk act that plays 90s throwback punk that I wouldn't really call easycore... but also there's traces of that huge slickness you find in easycore that can be very satisfying.
They really don't have the exact "pop-punk by hardcore kids" sound, and they probably err on the side of Lookout! and 00s pop-punk than they do the post-NFG sound. But they're also very much not a Ramonescore thing.
Basically, it's a mix of skate-punk influenced pop-punk with big chunky hooks, I suppose would be the easiest route to describe this. You can tell it has members of Belvedere because the technical punk from that band's beginnings as a Strung Out cover band (or at least that's what I remember being told back in the day) is still in this band's DNA. They crop up in some chugga chuggas here or some metal influenced soloing there ("Moontime.") They also nudge into that power-pop pop-punk territory on songs like "Frank Mills" as well.
Anyway, this stuff rules and is super sunshiny. Whenever I come back to this I'm surprised it didn't end up on my year-end list. 24 minutes, goes by quick, lots of highlights.
Chokehold - Content With Dying (1995, A389 Recordings)
Genre: Metalcore, Hardcore
Metallic hardcore from Hamilton, Ontario with absolutely brutal production.
If you can get past the production and the scrappiness of the performances (squeaking vocals, some sloppy rhythms here and there, etc.) there's a lot of ambition and youthful aggression that takes this stuff a long way. I know that's like saying "if you can get past the fact that this sucks..." but there is a lot of interesting stuff going on here - juxtaposing their leftist, vegan, straight-edge etc. views with samples from right wing or fundamentalist records works pretty well. It's just a solid sludgy album of Ontario hardcore and metalcore and maybe because I'm Canadian I find myself rooting for them while I listen, after the fact.
Lyrically, again it's that youthful "punk house politics sloganeering" (as LauraMarx put it in their RYM review) but it works especially when they're screaming stuff like "ANTI CHOICE IS ANTI HUMAN! / ANTI CHOICE IS ANTI WOMAN! / ANTI CHOICE IS CONTROL!"
As a lot of others have pointed out in reviews and online, it seems the guitarist went on a shitty "all lives matter" rant and punched a trans musician and was promptly fired from the band when they reformed a number of years back. A real shame when people become the thing they used to hate, but also fuck that guy and good on the band for kicking their ass out of the band.
🧷 #05 Punk Planet (1995 Jan-Feb)
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
I'm really digging that Chinese Telephones EP! As for music you might not like? I tend to avoid writing a whole lot about those-- my rationale is that there are already enough bad reviews in the world, and tbh, I'm too old to waste time on stuff I really don't like anymore. Maybe that's just me.