8/7 New Music Roundup
The return of Frank Turner, the best B-sides album you’ll ever hear, and a boatload of new singles from some of the scene’s heavy hitters.
Albums
Frank is back! And he’s pulling pretty much a complete 180° in terms of mood and content from 2013's Tape Deck Heart. That record was largely a breakup album full of the tormented musings of someone who just lost the person he thought he’d be with for a lot longer. There were, of course, songs begging the loved one to return, but there were also songs where Frank took all the blame for fucking up a good thing. There was even a song comparing the emotional damage left by the break-up to the permanent, self-inflicted physical scars from Frank’s youth. Really heavy, powerful stuff, despite the album being Frank’s poppiest recording yet.
This time around, as the title would suggest, Frank has resolved to push through the storm and get better. The music is appropriately upbeat and major key, other than a track here or there. Not many other artists could credibly write an album where ten of the twelve tracks are not just positive songs, but are literally declaring that everything is going to be okay and “it’s great to be alive!” Yet, Frank’s anthemic writing and genuine lust for life prevent this album from being overly cheesy or nauseatingly syrupy.
However, despite Frank’s well-documented struggles to get through to the other side of his own life-changing event, the bulk of PS4NP is devoted to inspiring others to survive their personal tragedies and believe that things won’t always be this way. He literally sings, “Come on now, if we all pull together / We can lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders,” and he does so with such passion and enthusiasm that you can’t help but believe in yourself a little bit more. There are loads of people who need to hear someone tell them the things Frank says on PS4NP, and I hope they listen.
Listen: Full album (Spotify), “The Next Storm”
First things first, this is a collection of B-sides and covers, most of which have already been released on various singles and 7 inches. But The Flatliners don’t write B-sides like most artists. Every B-side released since 2010's career-defining Cavalcade has had listeners wondering why it wasn’t included on the album it was recorded alongside. While a handful of the 23(!) tracks on here are undeniably not up to the quality of their recent studio albums, the majority are astonishingly strong, thus justifying this record’s existence. And, while most have been released over the past few years, it’s nice to have them all in one place, and the new tracks are all great.
Listen: Full album (Spotify), “Broken Men”
Fake Problems has been largely dormant since 2010's Real Ghosts Caught on Tape, but their singer, Chris Farren, has been incredibly busy. He released a series of self-recorded cover songs, released a few solo splits and EPs, and started a band with Jeff Rosenstock that has released an album and two EPs. He also has cultivated a distinct surf-pop sound that began on Real Ghosts but was completely absent from the rest of Fake Problems’ work.
This EP contains just two songs, but is reportedly the first in a series of EPs to follow. The songs were written as a complete album, but were apparently ditched after being recorded by Ted Hutt in 2013 and 2014. While the second track, “Holy Attitude,” sounds very much like a Chris Farren pop song, the first is much more intriguing. “Can You Live With That?” is a bit of a return to Fake Problems’ earlier work, blending biting lyrics and weird melodies with cleaner tones. This song provides a glimpse of what Fake Problems might have become if they continued to produce music regularly alongside Farren’s more recent pop obsession. Mostly though, I’m just glad these songs are finally seeing the light of day.
Listen: Full EP (non-Spotify), “Can You Live With That?”
Singles
Iron Chic stays pretty quiet these days as far as releasing music goes. This song is as loud as ever though, stoking anticipation for a new LP.
Members of some legendary ‘90s emo bands (Snowing and Algernon Cadwallader) have converged to form Dogs on Acid, who have an album coming out on the 28th. The songs release so far sound surprisingly modern and fresh, which goes to show how much talent is in this band. Definitely looking forward to this one, despite my lack of familiarity with either previous band.
EL VY is a side project of The National’s Matt Berninger, but it’s unfortunately a bit of a weird mash-up of styles. Matt’s downbeat lyrics and tone are contrasted by bouncy, upbeat music, and I’m just not digging it too much. Interesting to hear Berninger in a different context though.
Wavves seems to have settled into their sound a little more than on their last album, with less aggression and more of a pop influence. That might be good for them though, as Afraid of Heights often felt disjointed and uneven. New album, V, coming out on September 25th.
Macklemore had a baby, everybody! Here’s a song about it!
Direct Hit! has re-recorded some of their best early songs for a compilation album, and it’s sounding pretty great so far. This song is one of their best that never saw a proper release, and it’s a reminder of how fun this band was before they started writing rock operas (I’m a huge fan of Brainless God, by the way, but their old stuff was a blast to listen to).
I still don’t really get this band and the dude’s voice still grates on me, but maybe a full-length will make more sense to me than their EPs of four songs that all sound the same.
Chris Cresswell recording a classic Against Me! track sounds like a punk fan’s dream come true, but this recording is surprisingly underwhelming and disappointing. Cresswell has a habit of making exciting songs slow and boring, and that’s exactly what he does here. Cool that this exists, but kind of a bummer that he did it this way.
This is a cover I enjoyed quite a bit more than I expected to. The Kinks are a band I’ve never thought was worth devoting much time to, but this song is kind of cool.
I’ve always considered H2O to be the most underrated band in punk. 1996's Thicker Than Water and 1998's F.T.T.W. are brilliant albums front-to-back and should be bona fide classics in the genre, but you never hear anyone talk about them. The rest of their work varies in quality, but the highs are damn high. Despite their age, they apparently still like to skate. I’m always a bit wary of new recordings from old punk bands, so, regardless of my love for this band, I’m fairly ambivalent to the forthcoming Use Your Voice (out on October 9th).
I don’t know much about these guys beyond hearing their name now and then, but this song definitely caught my ear. It’s a blend of emo and punk that is more reminiscent of what was going on in the early 2000s, but with more honesty and heart than most of those songs. This sound is semi-unique among modern bands, but manages to be more dynamic than most recent emo music. Looking forward to the album’s release in two weeks.
