Category: music

Fresh song: Teenage Bottlerocket, “I Wanna Be a Dog,” and upcoming album Stay Rad

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Wyoming pop punk band Teenage Bottlerocket announced a upcoming album with a new song yesterday, jamming their way back onto the scene and reminding us that the state of Wyoming does, in fact, exist. Stay Rad! drops March 15th on Fat Wreck Chords, and is available for pre-order now with the track “I Wanna Be a Dog.” This is something of a comeback album for Teenage Bottlerocket. It’s their first original material since the death of drummer Brandon Carlisle, twin brother of singer/guitarist Ray Carlisle. Recording with new drummer Darron Chewka, the minute and forty-seven seconds we can hear of this album so far sounds like the Teenage Bottlerocket we all know: basically the same-old same-old Ramones-core formula of four chords, peppy drum beats, and silly lyrics, and for fans of the sound that’s not a bad thing.

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PUP’s new single, “Kids,” and new album hype

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Earlier this week, Toronto punk band PUP posted a short video on Twitter, teasing an unknown song and captioned with the word “TOMORROW.” Seeing this Tweet first thing in the morning by my time zone woke me up like an air horn to the eardrums, and left me wild with anticipation all day as I fought the urge to scream about PUP in the face of anyone in a ten-foot radius. Just what’s this Tweet about, huh? A new song? A new music video? An entire new album, dropped on us out of nowhere, Rosenstock-style?

The next day, we got answers: a new album called Morbid Stuff, coming April 5th, announced with a new single, tour dates, and variety of vinyl pre-order bundles. The largest of these bundles includes the Morbid Stuff record, a PUP backpack, a PUP emergency preparedness kit, and a freakin’ lifeboat. Who the hell releases a new record with a lifeboat? (And guess what? That bundle is already completely sold out.) This announcement comes with the band’s new self-made record label, Little Dipper, a project that’s as DIY and punk rock as it is commercially nonviable (in the band/label’s own words: “Who starts a record label in 2019?! Idiots” and “You think there’s any money in this thing???”). These guys are in the punk game for the long run, and that’s clear from their nihilistic new single, “Kids,” the second track on the upcoming album and our first listen at what’s to come. I gave “Kids” a few listens, and here are my thoughts.

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My Music Highlights of 2018

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(Folk musician Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions from 1943)

2019 is here, which puts another year behind us. Here are some albums I enjoyed over the past year, compiled as some of my ‘highlights’ of 2018. Some are albums released in 2018, while others are just albums or bands I discovered for the first time last year. As such, this isn’t a comprehensive “Best of 2018” list, but just a selection of ten albums I enjoyed that I think deserve a shout-out. Enjoy!

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December Albums: Master post, reflection, and what’s to come

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I created this blog at the end of November 2018, and kicked it off with an ambitious starting project: to write about an album every day through the month of December. Some posts were sloppy and rushed, and I fell behind by several days. Today’s post on so-called “December 31st” is actually January 4th, 2019 by my time zone. Nonetheless, I enjoyed writing these and found it beneficial to my writing and organizational craft after a few months’ break from writing. I hope anyone who has come across this blog enjoyed reading these early posts.

Below is a list of every album post I made to save readers the trouble of scrolling through thirty-one posts. The date on the left links to the blog post itself, while the album title links to a sample song from that album, the same sample given in the post. I also include the genre of that artist/album for those who’d rather check out posts for music they’re particularly interested in. Enjoy!

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