Hi! Hello! Here we are with some bite sized goodies and a taste of a some new things that we dug that came out in the last week(ish), quick fire responses to some great new music we think you should check out. This week was a big one and Chantal, Kate and Mike weighed in on some killer songs— give ’em a listen!
And though we can’t possibly cover all the music that is released each week (we wish!), we do get to as many songs as we can. As always, if you’re in a band or from a label, don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know about you! If we dig ya, you’ll get a nod in the column. Read on to find out what we dug the last week or so and check back every Friday for more:
Algiers– I Can’t Stand It! (feat. Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews). The latest from the upcoming and anticipated album, Shook (2/24 Matador), it features a sample of the 1971 Lee Moses song “What You Don’t Want Me To Be” as well as guest spots from Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands) and Jae Matthews (Boy Harsher). The song explores some deep personal feelings and the soulful sample heightens the emotions of frontman Franklin James’ very palpable pain. Algiers will next hit the stage in NYC on 4/6 at Racket. [KH]
boygenius– $20/Emily I’m Sorry/True Blue. The holy trinity of indie rock, boygenius, aka the super group of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus are back and people are really excited about it! Read more here and go take a peak at their Rolling Stone cover story (and this very cool behind the scenes video/interview) which sees the band hilariously and very accurately replicating two of the most iconic Nirvana photo shoots of the 90s. [KH]
Deerhoof– Sit Down, Let Me Tell You a Story. The long running and prolific experimental band have just announced their latest album, Miracle-Level, which after almost 30 years as a band is the first record they have made start to finish within the walls of a recording studio. It is also their first album that will feature frontwoman Satomi Matsuzaki signing entirely in Japanese (read more on the making of the album here). The song brings all the wonderful noisy chaos I love about this band and follows the very delightful single they released last fall, “My Lovely Cat,” (read our thoughts) also included on the album which was produced by none other than the late Lil Bub’s owner, Mike Bridavsky. The album arrives in full on 3/31 via Joyful Noise Recordings and the band will embark on a headline tour that hits NYC on 4/4 at Elsewhere. [KH]
Ditz– No Thanks, I’m Full (Live at the Louisiana Bristol). The UK based noise punk band put out one of my top three favorite records of 2022, The Great Regression, and just announced a live version of the album and a European tour to accompany it. (The rest of my list can be seen here. It was not ranked, but I did indicate on my Instagram that this album in particular was in my top three for the year.) This song closes out the studio version of the album and fittingly is the first song revealed from the live record which is set to include the whole of Regression “plus a couple of extras.” I’m definitely excited for said extras though it is unclear if it will be some of the stand alone singles they have released or new tracks.
This is actually the third recorded incarnation of this song, having first appeared on EP1 in 2016, with the latest version being the most ferocious yet, the live setting allowing it to stretch out to a very noisy eight minutes (it’s also pretty cool to see the evolution of the song in an seven year time period). This is one of the bands on the very top of my list to see live and while no US tour has yet been announced, they told me recently via DM that they hope to get over here sometime in 2023. My fingers (and my toes) are certainly crossed for that! [KH]
Forty Feet Tall– We Can’t Go Back To Normal. Confession, I might be a little obsessed with how catchy the guitars are in the chorus of this song, the opposing licks sparking back and forth off of each other. This is the second single from an upcoming EP and the band says “This is our most blatantly political, angry song we’ve made. Cole [Gann, guitar/vocals] wrote the lyrics pretty freshly off of protests and it talks about very specific events that happened in Portland, as well as much broader problems that everyone experienced and continues to experience. We fell into this mantra, ‘we can’t go back to normal’, which seemed to synthesize it all into a sentence. Whatever so many of us considered ‘normal’ was brutality.” I’m certainly intrigued and very ready to hear more from this crew. [KH]
Gina Birch—I Play My Bass Loud. The title track from Birch’s upcoming album is a slice of dub, with declaratory lyrics that bring a smile to this bassist’s face: “Sometimes I wake up and I wonder, what is my job? – I play my bass loud!” The music video features five women bassists: Emily Elhaj (Angel Olsen), Mikki Itzigsohn (Small Wigs), Staz Lindes (The Paranoyds), Hazel Rigby (TBHQ), and Birch herself, dancing around with choreographer Brontez Purnell. It all makes for a joyous, finger-snapping song that I can’t wait to blast out of a speaker this spring. Look out for the album 2/24 on Third Man Records. [CW]
Jenny O.- You Are Loved Eternally. The bright light of summery joy in the midst of the cold hard winter is exactly the pick-me-up I needed this week. Singer songwriter Jenny O. brings some sunny 60s pop vibes here with the latest single from her upcoming album, Spectra, and the airy guitar and sugary harmonies will thaw the iciest of hearts. Spectra arrives 2/24 via Mama Bird Recording Co. [KH]
John (Times Two)– Hopper on the Dial. I love this band for their high energy, (usually) high tempo and beautifully abrasive qualities. And I love this song (and its companion “Theme New Bond Junior,” read my thoughts here) precisely because while both embrace these qualities to an extent, both are a distinct departure from the hyper drive affair of most of the material on their previous three albums (2017’s God Speed in the National Limit, 2019’s Out Here on the Fringes and 2021’s Nocturnal Manoeuvres). This is the band really at its most subdued and see them exploring intricacies in their sound which have not been present before, a path that is new for the band and it is certainly exciting to see where this might lead as their songwriting continues to evolve in a dynamic way. This song is the B-side to a limited edition 7inch with “Theme New Bond Junior” on the A-side; both songs are available via streamers as well. No word yet if this there is a new full length in the works or of the songs to come will continue in this more nuanced vein, but either way, I’m really excited to hear more from this duo.
They (like their UK counterparts Ditz mentioned above) are very high up on my list of bands to see live and thus far I have unfortunately missed them in my travels to the UK. I also chatted with them via DM last fall and they said they are hoping to be able to come to the States in 2023 but nothing has been solidified yet. Here’s hoping I’ll be front and center at an NYC show at some point before this year comes and goes. [KH]
Mandy, Indiana– Injury Detail.American name, English band, French vocals: Mandy, Indiana’s newest single is dancey to a degree, but also chaotic. The band says the track was “inspired by the idea of being trapped in a liminal space,” and the sound, both jarring and open, conveys the idea well, while the Backrooms-esque music video directed by Thomas Harrington Rawle adds another unsettling angle to the song. The single is out on Fire Talk Records, and the band will be appearing on our side of the pond at SXSW in March. [CW]
Mhaol– Therapy. The UK/Ireland based feminist post punk quintet (which is pronounced “male”) are set to release their debut full length, Attachment Styles (2/3 via TULLE collective), and this latest single has a supremely catchy, driving and looping feel to it, utilizing fuzzy repetition as a style to nail the point home as they have on past songs like “Bored of Men,” and “Gender Studies.” The band says Attachment Styles is “a record about social connection, queerness and healing,” and explores some heavy topics but one that will take the listener on a “journey of healing.” The band have several shows in the UK and Ireland planned and will be Stateside this year with an appearance at SXSW but no word yet if any other US dates (perhaps in the fair hellscape of NYC) are pending; here’s hoping! [KH]
New Pagans–There We Are John.The latest single from this Irish band’s upcoming album Making Circles Of Our Own has jagged edges rounded off by singer Lyndsey McDougall’s vocals, which ride easily over tick-tock rhythm section and wailing guitars. According to the band, the song is “about growing things out of desolate situations and spaces” and is inspired by the filmmaker Derek Jarman and the hope they find in his work. The album is out on Big Scary Monsters on February 17th. [CW]
Pile– Nude with a Suitcase. The latest song to be revealed from Pile’s upcoming album, All Fiction (2/17 Exploding In Sound), starts pretty ominously and continues in a similarly disjointed way, with big marching-esque drums alongside melancholic vocals, guitar and synth. The discomfort radiates outward and the song ends with almost two minutes of eerie feedback to really drive the feeling in. They will play a pair of shows at TV Eye on 3/1 and 3/2. [KH]
Ron Gallo– At Least I’m Dancing. The wonderfully sardonic songsmith Gallo is going right into 2023 with a headstrong new single from his upcoming album, Foreground Music. “At Least I’m Dancing” is a song that is sometimes noisy, sometimes soulful and calls into question our narcissistic traits and tendencies to avoid that which is difficult and asks questions like “how can we all come together if we think we’re the picture and not the projector? / how can can we all come together if we’d rather be rich than fondly remembered? / how can we dance together if we suppress emotions to talk about weather?”
Gallo has plenty to—rightly—be pissed about in the doomed world we currently live in, but underneath the frustration and sarcasm in much of his music is always the undercurrent of hope. Because, as he says via a press release, “the world is completely fucked, but the universe is inside you” which while dark, is also very true. And at least we can find some moments of levity and dance it out while we careen towards destruction. Foreground Music arrives 3/3 via Kill Rock Stars and a tour will follow, with stops at SXSW and hitting Brooklyn on 4/6 at Baby’s All Right. [KH]
Screaming Females– Brass Bell. It feels pretty obvious to say the guitar work is impressive on this track, it is a song Marissa Paternoster wrote after all. But I really enjoyed the main riff and the layers in the choruses, backed by the ever solid rhythm section of King Mike on bass (who hits some gnarly bass chords during the song’s breakdown) and Jarrett Dougherty on drums. The song comes along with the announcement of their 8th album, Desire Pathway, so named for the routes people take which defy the ideas urban planners have for the way people should move. Paternoster elaborated saying “Maybe there was one in your neighborhood growing up, a corner where everyone decided it took too long to go around, so they made their own pathway to cut through, there’s this cool unsaid group consciousness that comes together where everyone decides, this is the right way to go.” Desire Pathway arrives 2/17 via Don Giovanni. [KH]
Superchunk– Everything Hurts. The indie greats have a few extra tracks to share from the Wild Loneliness sessions and have just released the A-side of an upcoming 7inch featuring two of those songs, the rueful mid tempo rocker, “Everything Hurts.” The B-side “Making a Break” will be released digitally on 2/24 and the vinyl version of the release is available for pre-order now. [KH]
Smooth McDuck– Sell Yourself. Quack rock indie project, Smooth McDuck is back with a new dreamy jangle single. Clean guitars and soothing soundscapes juxtapose a world where even this raw beauty of a song is expected to commodify itself to a sonic and visual product. Subtly overt in its execution, it’s perfect for a cold winter morning and a cup of coffee as you try and search for meaning in the day ahead. [MB]
The Van Pelt– Punk House. It has been a very long time since we last heard something new from The Van Pelt, the influential post hardcore/emo band who had not released an album of new music since 1997’s Sultans of Sentiment (they did release Imaginary Third in 2014 which was a collection of previously unreleased music they were working on at the time of their breakup for a third album which, at that point, had never come to fruition). “Punk House” is the first single from the soon to arrive Artisans & Merchants (3/17 Spartan)which the band recorded in 2021 and features guest appearances by Ted Leo, Nate Kinsella and more. There will also be a tour in support of the album which will hit NYC on 4/23 at Saint Vitus. [KH]
Worriers– Pollen In The Air. The latest from singer-songwriter Lauren Denitzio under their moniker, Worriers, and the first track from the upcoming new album, Warm Blanket (4/7 Ernest Jenning Record Co). This is synthy departure from the more guitar driven work from their past releases and the album was written and self recorded by Denitzio as a true solo project (with remote drum contributions from Atom Willard of Against Me!/Plosivs) who said they finally accepted that Worriers was not so much a band but a solo venture and that that came with the realization that they could “write whatever I wanted.” Check out our coverage of Worriers opening for Jawbreaker last spring. [KH]
Hi! Hello! Here we are with some bite sized goodies and a taste of a some new things that we dug that came out in the last week(ish), quick fire responses to some great new music we think you should check out. This week Kate and Mike weighed in on some killer songs— give ’em a listen!
And though we can’t possibly cover all the music that is released each week (we wish!), we do get to as many songs as we can. As always, if you’re in a band or from a label, don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know about you! If we dig ya, you’ll get a nod in the column. Read on to find out what we dug the last week or so and check back every Friday for more:
Big Laugh– Shadow Figure. Hardcore that rips and rages, with plenty of BIG riffs, dirty bass lines and drum fills, this one from the Milwaukee based band ticks a lot of heavy boxes for me. I’m more than a little bummed their soon to commence tour with Gel won’t be hitting NYC, but hopefully they’ll make it out this way sometime in 2023. From the upcoming album, Consume Me, due out 2/10 via Revelation. [KH]
Cat Clyde– I Feel It. The Canadian indie folk singer has a new album, Down Rounder, due out 2/17 and has just released the second single, a beautiful piano led contemplation with string accents which she says is about her experiences—both positive and negative—with being an empath. [KH]
Death Valley Girls– Sunday. “I need a sign” shit, me too. “I just want to lay down and never get up again” also, me too! The always effervescent LA garage punks have released the second single from their upcoming record, Islands in the Sky (2/24/23 Suicide Squeeze), and it’s a bit laid back, a soulful plaintive meandering til around the last minute when they amp up the tempo and hope springs eternal once more. The song is REALLY relatable for any of us who have existed at any point lumbering through the last few years and lead singer Bonnie Bloomgarden says “Over the past few years I learned you have to feel and move through your feelings or they get stuck, and then you become a vessel or container for all the feelings you are trying to avoid! If you acknowledge, feel, and process them, you get to release and move them out of you! This song is to honor that process! Feel your feelings, be so sad you wanna cry forever, and then move on, you gotta keep moving!” [KH]
El Ten Eleven– Not Even Almost. The instrumental post rock duo only seems to get more prolific with time—in the last three years they have released a triple album,Tautology (2020) and its follow up, New Year’s Eve, which came out last year. They are heading into 2023 full steam ahead with yet another new album, Valley of Fire, due out 2/10 via Joyful Noise. The thing I have always loved about instrumental music is that you can certainly take the intentions of the creators to heart while listening to it, but you can also find your own meaning in it much more so than music with lyrics. I have been a fan of El Ten Eleven for a very long time now and the things I have always found and loved in their music is the undercurrent of hope and a sense of calm that always seems to find me in the moments I need it most.
Bassist/composer Kristian Dunn explains that the album was inspired by “visiting Valley Of Fire State Park in Nevada,” “Overwhelmed by the beauty and surreal nature of the place, I found myself in the rare state of actually living in the moment and feeling awash in true tranquility. There was a sense of not getting close to something transcendent but actually experiencing it, thus the title. It wasn’t almost transcendent, it WAS.” About this song specifically he shares “If you listen closely, you’ll notice the melody repeating but the bass parts changing underneath. It’s a very Bach-inspired idea, but fits the metaphor perfectly (the anchor of your identity shifting under a truly moving circumstance).” The group hit NYC twice in 2022, once for their own headline show and again opening for Peter Hook and the Light (both phenomenal shows for the record), so here’s hoping 2023 sees them grace the Big Apple once more. [KH]
Fucked Up– I Think I Might Be Weird. The long running Canadian legends are due to release their latest album, One Day, so named because it was recorded in the span of 24 hours by each member (read more on that here) and have shared the third single from it this week. This one sees them step back from the edge of frenetic hardcore a bit, blending elements of classic rock and dance punk in with their signature sound and Damian Abraham’s ever satisfying screams along with the trill of some sweet violin accents. They have also announced tour dates in Canada, the UK and the US in support of the album which will hit Brooklyn on 4/28 at Brooklyn Made. [KH]
Linens– Forest Fire/Grunge. This double single actually came out in December 2022, but just dropped on Spotify last week and came to my attention at that point so here it is! The band says on their Bandcamp that “this is a two-song introduction” and I for one am ready to hear more from this Toronto post hardcore quartet. If you dig anything at all that came out on Dischord in the late 80s into the 90s, chances are you’ll dig this too. [KH]
Negative Blast– Trauma Bond. Sometimes all you need to clear the cobwebs of life is some ragey hardcore. Negative Blast has you covered with the first single from their upcoming debut album, Echo Planet (2/10 Quiet Panic), which the band says “is a pulverizing punk ripper about the human machine that trades life for profit through control, trauma and warfare. The words explore what fuels the parasitic nature that compels those to hold power and subjugate others into a life of violence and suffering.” [KH]
Quasi- Nowheresville. You know what? I freaking love Quasi, there’s just no two ways about it. I also love bike riding, street wandering, band practice invading gorillas/Sasquatch like creatures (I mean, who doesn’t?) and they deliver on that in the cheeky music video too. All that being said, don’t let the groovy aesthetic or the cheek fool you, the song doesn’t say it outright, but it’s not hard to read between the lines that it’s about the atrocious state of affairs when it comes to gun control and mass shootings in the US and how our elected “leaders” continuously throw their hands up in the air while offering “thoughts and prayers” as a means to justify the blood on their hands. “Here they come now thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers won’t get ya there but I guess they do make a pretty pair.” Indeed, the cryptozoology themed video does make sense in the full context, our hairy beast riding off to nowheresville with the empty words of politicians and their promises to do something tangible as much a myth as a real Sasquatch is. And given that the subject matter is something I myself feel very strongly about, maybe I even love Quasi more after this one.
So given all this, you also can imagine that I’m pretty damn excited for the new album, Breaking The Balls of History, due out 2/10 via Sub Pop which is also their first in almost 10 years. Indeed, I am and I’m also very much looking forward to getting to hear these songs played live when they head out on tour, making a stop at TV Eye on 3/16 (with the equally as awesome Bat Fangs) which will mark my first time seeing the band in almost 20 years. Perhaps before then, I’ll dig up my circa 2004 35mm negatives from the old Knitting Factory while I anxiously await the show. [KH]
shame– Six-Pack. Have wah, will travel! On their latest single, the second from the upcoming album, Food for Worms (2/24 Dead Oceans), the UK post punkers lean heavily on the wah pedal to accent the angular guitar along with some pretty frenzied drumming. In his review of their previous single, “Fingers of Steel,” Mike said “It’s obvious shame makes music for them, and everyone else just happens to be on board.” I’m inclined to agree AND be fully on board. [KH]
We Are Scientists– Settled Accounts. On their 8th album, Lobes (1/20 Masterswan), the long running NYC indie greats are leaning hard into a dancy disco funk feeling and I’m here for it. This pairs perfectly with the disco romp of previous single, “Less Than You,” both with straight out of the 70s nightclub bass lines, and both more than delivering the grooves. A perfect showcase of what this band has always been great at—big emotions and deep grooves all wrapped into one. They will play a release show at Brooklyn Made on 1/20. [KH]
WifeKnife– Dead Ringer/Blackout. Birthed directly from everything good and unholy from deep within the bowels of cherished Brooklyn mainstay, Our Wicked Lady, Wife Knife rose onto the scene last year and just dropped a double single to ring in the new year. Though the quintet is OWL DNA thru and thru, their unique brand of Sabbath meets Fugazi riffage on “Dead Ringer” belongs front and center on the Saint Vitus stage. While the dynamic “Blackout” carries with it the soul of Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson on the back of a dark unicorn to the ends of the flaming sea swallowed up by The Nothing. It slays. It melts your face. [MB]
Zulu-Where I’m From. This is the second single from the forthcoming debut full length, A New Tomorrow (3/3 Flatspot) by the epic LA based powerviolence band and like the previous song, it will shake your skull and rattle you all the way down your spine. This one features guest vocal spots from Pierce Jordan (Soul Glo) and Obioma Ugonna (Playytime) over top of heavy riffage and rock solid drums. They will head out on tour in support of the record with Show Me The Body, the tour hits Brooklyn Steel on 3/24. [KH]
Music photography is many things—a window into the dark and subterranean world of live music and the various scenes that surround it, an obsession for those partake in it, and even more than that, it was a living archive and a lifeline when we were all sidelined during the early days of the pandemic and all shows were shut down.
FTA is proud to be sponsoring a group photography show, Live Survives, curated by Jeff Schaer-Moses, that celebrates all of these things and more. The show will take place on Wednesday 1/18 at Ridgewood dive spot, Bar Freda, home to many local bands who share their music, love and talents with the NYC music community. The show will feature work from FTA’s editor-in-chief, Kate Hoos, as well as FTA contributing photographer, Jeanette D. Moses, along with a myriad of other photographers and visual artists from the NYC area and beyond who will be sharing their unique visions of what live music is to them. These artists include Pete Perry (aka Papa Ukraine), Doug Glass, Aleksei Postnikov, Cirsty Burton, Jeff Schaer-Moses and many more.
On why he wanted to put this event together, Schaer-Moses shares:
“Sometimes I feel like photography doesn’t mean anything and I’m just some fan with a camera. But then I see some of the photos and videos I took of the house shows and dirt lot parties we threw back in Phoenix and I realize an entire culture would have been lost to the Arizona dust if I wasn’t on the scene shooting. This DIY culture exists and we are a part of it, and the only way it will survive is if we keep documenting it and carrying on the tradition. ‘Live Survives’ is a reminder to everyone who was scared in 2020 that we may never get live music back that nothing can stop this train. People will gather, people will play music, and people will as my OG Big Homie Eugene Hutz says “dance around the fire.” Live Survives is dedicated to the memories of Andy Warpigs, Jack Terricloth, Rick Hill, Eddie Detroit, Jordan Groggs, Joe Sawinski and every other musician, road manager, venue staffer, videographer, and photographer who didn’t get to see one more show.”
The evening will feature live music from Red Tank! and Soria, $10 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Hi! Hello! Here we are with some bite sized goodies and a taste of a some new things that we dug that came out in the last few weeks (posted now due to the holidays etc), quick fire responses to some great new music we think you should check out. This week Kate, Mike and guest writer, Mara, weighed in on some killer songs— give ’em a listen!
And though we can’t possibly cover all the music that is released each week (we wish!), we do get to as many songs as we can. As always, if you’re in a band or from a label, don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know about you! If we dig ya, you’ll get a nod in the column. Read on to find out what we dug the last week or so and check back every Friday for more:
Black Belt Eagle Scout– Nobody. Black Belt Eagle Scout is the project of Swinomish, Indian Tribal Community-based multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul and “Nobody” follows the two previously released singles, “Don’t Give Up” and the stirring “My Blood Runs Through This Land.” This latest offering continues in the same vein as the previous songs and leads us further on Paul’s journey, her vocals wispy and light on top of the airy composition, which also features a piercing electric guitar line to the accentuate each chorus.
Her upcoming album The Land, The Water, The Sky is due out on 2/10 Saddle Creek and Paul has said it is a “love letter to Indigenous strength and healing, and a story of hope,” adding that this song in particular is about the Native representation that she didn’t find in her own childhood: “When I was growing up, I didn’t have very many Native role models to look to on TV or the radio. It was within my own community that I found inspiring role models through our elders and our community leaders. With Native representation in music and television slowly growing, I often ask myself where I stand within representation in music and how I want to be seen. This song is about the relationship I have with my own representation in music.” [KH]
Corker– Lice. Dive into some zippy, catchy as hell riffage from this Cincinnati quartet. They have perfectly blended punk and post-punk on this track for an anxious ear worm that immediately had me reaching for the repeat button the second it was done. Contrasting insistent guitar riffs duel back and forth, pushing and pulling against each other at some points, crossing over each other and intersecting at others. The band just embarked on a tour that will see them hitting dates across the Midwest but unfortunately will miss NYC this time around. This song follows their 2021 EP, A Bell That Seems To Mourn, and is the first taste of their debut LP which is to come at some point later this year. You can bet I’m more than ready to hear more (and to catch a show in NYC). [KH]
The Drin– Venom. More post punk from Cincinnati? Sign me up! The second single from their upcoming album, Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom, this one is a slightly scuzzy, lofi 80s Casio twinged tune with plenty of punch and grit behind the drive. While it is not surprising that this band shares members with aforementioned Corker, and both fall firmly under the post punk umbrella, the two bands definitely have their own distinct feels and are in no way carbon copies of each other, each standing firmly on their own. And I have to say, if some of these bands don’t start coming to NYC soon, it looks like I’ll be taking a road trip soon because there is something going on over there in Ohio. Something great. Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom will be released on 1/27. [KH]
Edna– End of the World. This is a stellar new track to end the year and it’s a long way home from here but it’s worth the ride. “End of the World” is a snappy long rhythmic build into soaring guitars and harmonies that devolves beautifully into dissonant unravel. Frontman Mike Tarnofsky delivers the somewhat sleepy vocal overdriven just enough to sizzle over the smolder tightly harnessed by the band. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the song belonged to the last great romantic age of rock n’ roll in NYC, paved into the Manhattan streets and echoed off the abandoned dancehalls and ghosts of the Lower East Side. [MB]
Fantastic Negrito– Highest Bidder (Reimagined). The triple Grammy award winning artist has just announced a new album, Grandfather Courage, which is the follow up and acoustic reimagining of his acclaimed 2022 album, White Jesus Black Problems. The original album features the Grammy nominated single “Oh Betty” (for Best American Roots performance) which was also given the acoustic treatment and released last month. On this latest rework, Negrito shares “If you want to take your mind, body and soul on a trip check out the reimagined recording of ‘Highest Bidder’ through the lenses of my touring band. At the time, I was listening to a lot of African drum patterns, and that definitely influenced this song. I’m trying to convey what I see when I walk down the street here in Oakland.”
Grandfather Courage releases in full on 2/3 via Storefront. Listen to both versions below. [KH]
Foul Pride– Public Execution. The NYC punk scene’s freshest faces are here with their debut track which highlights the poison of systemic racism inherent in the police system and beyond. The first half of the song bounces back and forth between a grungey groove with crusty edges for the verses and ripper blast-beat choruses. They point directly to the mischaracterization of Black and Brown people by law enforcement as “criminals” which in turn feeds a toxic false perception adopted in many ways by society as a whole. The identity bias underlies a sadness and anger that simmers throughout and boils over into a super heavy breakdown coda that carries us through the raw emotional release of the song’s second half. [MB]
Hairbag– Channel Surfing. Had Stone Temple Pilots, Tool, and The Vandals started a side project together, it probably would’ve been Hairbag. At times metal-adjacent, with a hint of funk, and a full serving of satirical punk ethos, the new single by the Brooklyn Trio (which includes Jigsaw Youth’s Maria Alvarez on bass) is just a taste of their latest release “Mole People” (out today via Boneshaker Records). Employing the quick-shifting rhythms we’ve come to expect from the band, this time around the guitars are bigger and grittier, the vocals more guttural and Hairbag has leaned straight into the heavier end of their spectrum. This has definitely got us excited to really dig into the rest of the new EP. [MB]
The Hold Steady– Sideways Skull. The long running Brooklyn indie rockers have reached the impressive hallmark of 20 years as a band and have announced a new album and tour to celebrate. Frontman Craig Finn notes the first single “Sideways Skull” is “a rocking song about rock and rollers,” and indeed it is, hitting everything that makes this band so much fun to listen to or see live. Read more here about their tour plans for 2023 and check out our recent coverage of night two of their annual Massive Nights residency. [KH]
Jigsaw Youth– Deeper. Helping us out with our New Year’s resolution to keep on rocking in 2023, the Staten Island trio and blog favorite dropped a new standalone single first day of the new year! Coming in heavy like a thunderclap, dotted with breakbeats, and smothered in wah wah, the song hits like a mean right hook. Giving us little time to barely catch our breath, Maria Alvarez (bass/vocals), Nastacha Beck (guitar/vocals), and Alex Dmytrow (drums) indeed go deeper, circling back to finish us off with a total knockout smash finish. [MB]
Mevius– December. Producer/songwriter Daniel Kasshu, aka Mevius, rang in the new year by releasing his first single of the year as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve. This latest track follows three singles that were releasedin 2022. “December” provides the dreamy electronic shoegaze and raw vocals that will transport your thoughts far away from the brisk winter wind wrapped against your cheeks and encapsulates the gritty emotions that the winter season in the cityinevitably provokes. Start the year off right by popping in your earbuds, and listening to a track that has lofi beats hot enough to melt the snow right off of your Doc Martens. You can catch Mevius live on January 18th opening for Push! at TV Eye, and headlining at Mercury Lounge on February 14th. [MF]
Posh Swat– Dungeon Crawler/Bug City. The ever prolific Osees band leader John Dwyer always seems to be up to something creative, and during the pandemic unleashed a number of experimental releases. He is back with another new experimental group, Posh Swat, which sees him rejoining forces with drummer Ryan Sawyer and percussionist Andres Renteria both of whom he collaborated with in Gong Splat. These two songs blend together, the first not really having an end point as the other begins and blend elements of jazz and psych for a trippy improvisational feel, with the drums and percussion taking more of the central role.
The group shared this statement on the upcoming record:
“Trap kit, hand percussion, homemade percussion instruments and electronic percussion overflow with extra weirdness.
Sick pop rhythms grinding through the wasteland.
Sand in your hair and bugs in your teeth.
Hand on your knife, knife in your sheath
Grimy bass burps through a fried stack
And the crack of the snare is a mighty pink smack
Bells, whistles, conga, and vibes
This is a drug record
One thousand times”
And with sounds like these and a description like that, this is sure to be another intriguing offering from this trio. Their self titled debut will release in full on 2/17 via Rock Is Hell. [KH]
Object of Affection– Half Life. Object of Affection is here to pick up where Title Fight left off and fill the void of gloomy, post hardcore riffs that we collectively thought only Floral Green could satisfy. Their latest, “Half Life,” is the lead single off of their upcoming debut album. And if you haven’t listened to them yet, it’s time to change that. Featuringmembers from some of the heaviest hitting bands in the current alternative scene (Fury, Death Bells, La Bonte), they use their talents to form a group that is nothing short of groundbreaking. Ditch listening to that vinyl from 2014 on repeat for the fourth time this week, and blast Object of Affection’s new single. Get ready to put those old records into retirement once Field of Appearances hits the shelves— you won’t be able to stop it from spinning on repeat until you fall asleep.
Their 10 track debut album, Field of Appearances, drops on March 3rd, via Profound Lore. You can pre-order/pre-save the album now. In the meantime, catch them in Los Angeles on January 28th, and San Diego on January 29th with direct support from Dazy and Alien Boy. [MF]
Oceanator– A Long December (Counting Crows cover). Oceanator, the project of songwriter Elise Okusami, released one of FTA’s favorite albums of 2022, Nothing’s Ever Fine, (see more of our picks here) and has kicked off the new year with a cover of the 1996 classic by Counting Crows. She provides the drums and the vocals for this one and gets an assist from her long time collaborator (and brother) Mike Okusami who played bass and piano on the track, along with guitars from Adam Meisterhans. It is a pretty faithful cover and will surely tick a lot of warm 90s nostalgia boxes. [KH]
Razor Braids– Nashville Again.The Brooklyn quartet returns to Nashville with the reimagining of their 2020 earworm single, “Nashville.” This time they approach things with softer brush strokes and a subdued slide that, like the song, feels like a series of delicately fleeting moments. The layered vocals perfectly align and occasionally overlap with a powerful fragility that breathes new life into the song. Razor Braids has artfully brought a whole new character to the tune about existing within a passing finite experience, suggesting maybe you can indeed go back home again. The song comes paired with a cover of the 90s classic by Weezer, “Buddy Holly” which the band joked they wanted to call “Buddy Hollye” after their singer Hollye Bynum. They will also embark on a tour at the end of February which will see them playing dates through SXSW. [MB]
Tee Vee Repairmann– Bus Stop. Lo-fi power pop punk from Australia, this is the first single from the forthcoming album What’s On TV? It was recorded on an analog 8 track (a Tascam 488 MK1 to be exact) by the prolific Sydney garage punk vet Ishka Edmeades (The Satanic Togas, G.T.R.R.C., Research Reactor Corporation) and that being the case, it has all the warm fuzzy edges you’d expect and know you love about the medium. It may currently be winter in the States, but it’s sunny season Down Under and this is the perfect tune to blast while cruising down the highway with the wind whipping through your hair. What’s On TV? will be available in full on 2/10 via Total Punk. [KH]
Welcome to the FTA contributors lists of what they loved in 2022! This is not presented as or meant to be a “best of” list and each list comes from the individual contributors as their own (and as such, you will see some repeats along the way). They serve more as personal snapshots into what we were all listening to and loved rather than a definitive list as one monolith called “Full Time Aesthetic”. We all have pretty different tastes and things we love and we all bring just a little something different to the table. Additionally, the lists are in alphabetical order and as such, aren’t ranked, it’s just about sharing what we love and care about the most aka “tell me a punk runs this blog without telling me a punk runs this blog.”
This blog truly is a sum of its parts and all of the lists reflect that so well and run a massively wide gamut of sounds, styles, and level of notoriety—from slick pop records by the world’s biggest stars recorded on million dollar budgets with famous producers down to lovingly self recorded/released DIY noise punk gems from the local NYC music community and beyond. But no matter what, each and every album or EP on this list meant something to all of us and was a big part of our 2022.
There will may be things you’re surprised to see (or perhaps not see) here, but we hope if you see something you’re unfamiliar with, you’ll dig in and explore it more and perhaps find a new love. If you missed our list last year, it is packed with heavy hitters from 2021 and full of plenty more to explore so be sure to check it out. Also be sure to check out our EIC’s Letter from the Editor which contains her list of all of her favorites from 2022; check that out here.
