Peace out, September! Thanks for the good music.
Let’s get into this month’s installment of new albums you may have missed. We’ve got some hardcore, we’ve got some pop punk, emo, and even some easycore.
14 records you may have missed, with a few in there you may not have missed but will want to re-visit.
This is DISCOVERED //0924//
Sharp Tongues – No Rescue
New Age Records
Someone call Mike, at New Age, and tell him he’s got a banger on his hands. Coming from Gothenburg, Sweden this melodic hardcore band holds nothing back on their debut album. If you’re not immediately hooked after hearing the opening track, ‘Wildfire’, just give yourself a chance to catch your breath and dive back in. By the time you get to the closer, ‘One Minute Left‘, you won’t know what hit you but you’ll be singing along and ready to hit play all over again.
FFO: Comeback Kid, Time & Pressure, Be Well
Chopping Block – Seattle’s Hardcore
Brain Floss Records
Sticking in the world of hardcore for this one, Seattle’s Chopping Block is a no-nonsense hardcore band that isn’t afraid to show their roots, while also growing in their sound. Seattle’s Hardcore is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it EP – 6 songs in a blistering 8 minutes.
In their own words: ‘We are trying to play fast, raw, unfiltered hardcore that draws from influences like Negative Approach, Carry On, and Mindset.’
FFO: Mindset, Carry On, Negative Approach
Public Opinion – Painted On Smile
Convulse Records
If you like your music mixed with equal parts 90s alternative and 80s hardcore, much like I do, then you’re going to want to give this record a listen. The debut LP from Denver based, Public Opinion, hits all the notes you’d expect in this lane of hardcore – working alongside Ian Shelton of Militarie Gun further drives home this band’s upside.
This record has it’s straight up rollicking hardcore punk belters in a Dischord Records/Revolution Summer ilk (‘Dry Clean Only‘), alongside softer melodic offerings (‘Passes Me By‘), some Nirvana-esque screams (‘Stethoscope‘), and the shimmery chiming guitars of all the best 90s alternative/power pop bands (‘Chicanery‘).
FFO: Militarie Gun, Praise, MSPAINT
Modern Angst – Part X
Punkerton Records
Simply put, Part X by Illinois band, Modern Angst, is a fun time for your ears. They are self described as a rock ‘n roll band, with punk undertones. I might say the inverse, they’re a punk band with some good old rock ‘n roll thrown in there. For my money, they’re a band that slots in nicely with some of your favorite punk bands of the 90s and early 2000s.
FFO: Face to Face, Millencolin, No Use For A Name
Massive Nightmares – Self-Titled
Self-Released
If you called Massive Nightmares a punk rock supergroup, you wouldn’t be too far from the truth. Featuring members of bands like Great Lakes USA, No Trigger, and Save Ends, this Boston band writes melancholic punk songs that are fit for evening hangs on the back deck, beers with the buds, or driving off into the sunset (literally, not figuratively). Mid-tempo punk songs that sound like they were written on an acoustic guitar to be sung along to, at the top of your lungs.
FFO: The Menzingers, The Bronx, The Lemonheads
Left Bank – Message in the Bottle
Dispear Records
From the moment I hit play on this album, I knew I was going to love it. Message in the Bottle is a 20 minute rush of raw, fast, old school melodic punk. The production on this album alone, is going to make you feel nostalgic – and the best part is just how genuine it feels. Left Bank is proof that, alongside some of their fellow country-folk, the punk scene is alive and well in France.
FFO: Pennywise, NOFX, Lagwagon
Berthold City – Where Did We Go Wrong?
WAR Records
What is there to say about Berthold City that you haven’t already heard? If you are in any way a fan of hardcore, let alone just a fan of that youth crew sound, you’ve probably heard the name Berthold City.
For the uninitiated, Berthold was formed back in 2017 by vocalist Andrew Kline. If that name is familiar to you, you’re probably a fan of his other bands Strife and World Be Free (as well as the driving force behind WAR Records).
The Los Angeles straight edge punks are back with their third release, Where Did We Go Wrong?, which features 12 tracks of straight forward hardcore punk in the vein of youth crew bands of yesterday.
FFO: Life Force, Ten Yard Fight, Strife
Mirabelle. – Welcome To My Funeral
mirabelle. Records
Welcome To My Funeral is the latest release from Paris band mirabelle. The easiest way to describe this band would be to call them an easycore band, but they like to mix it up a bit…I think I even heard a banjo at some point on this record.
Besides catchy hooks, and bouncy tracks, this band’s main goal seems to be having fun. Just a bunch of cuties celebrating friendship, and their love of everything from ska to death metal, which obviously results in a pretty solid easycore record.
FFO: Champagne, Cigarettes, and Charcuterie (but the champagne is cheap beer, the cigarettes are vapes, and the charcuterie is pepperoni pizza)
Hometruths – Good Days Bad Days
Lost Music Collective
Summer may be over, but UK based Hometruths aren’t letting summer go, without one last pop punk house party. Good Days Bad Days is the band’s debut LP (or is it an EP?) that calls back to the glory days of pop punk, with a Drive-Thru Records friendly sound.
If fall has you longing for summer days, and summer days have you longing for the early 2000s pop punk sound, then look no further than this record.
FFO: The Starting Line, State Champs, The Academy Is…
CLIFFDIVER – birdwatching
SideOneDummy
When I first heard CLIFFDIVER I made a poor judgment call; I heard punk/pop punk and horns, so my brain automatically thought ska. I suppose, if you really wanted, you could call them a ska band but that doesn’t feel right. Sure, they;ve got horns, but these are some of the sexiest and melodic horns I’ve heard.
On their new record, birdwatching, the band continues to mold their trademark sound. Fitting more alongside bands like The Wonder Years, and Tiny Moving Parts than a Less Than Jake or We Are The Union they’ve taken their pop punk with subtle horn parts, and made a record truly worth repeating.
Lyricically it is biting, sarcastic, self deprecating and heartfelt all at the same time. From the lyrics, to the vocal back and forth between Bri and Joey, to the subtle yet important horns, the expertly crafted emo anthems, and the witty song titles…what’s not to love about this record?
FFO: Taking what life throws at you and making it your ‘lil bitch’, but making it incredibly singable.
Stoke Signals – Make Dying Fun
Stay Tough Records
California pop punk band, Stoke Sinals, sound like what you’d get if you took the Descendents and crossbred them with The Get Up Kids, which makes them remind me of bands like Audio Karate.
Their debut record, Make Dying Fun, has been on repeat since I first ilstened to it. Lyrically it seems to be confronting mortality head on, but making it singable and fun. Not only does it pack some great energy, but it’s got some great lyrics as well – take the opening chorus as an example:
Cause I might get hit by a bus tomorrow/and one of me probably will/but none of that matters/if you don’t get sad/when you hear that I’ve turned into roadkill
Or like this line in Take The Wheel:
The burning embers coat our lungs/the highway lights make living faster/the cigarettes make dying fun
It’s a pretty weird, and fun singalong.
FFO: Daring your friends to jump their BMX off the roof of the house, into the pool.
Red Weather – All We Have Is Time
Self-released
The new EP from Red Weather, All We Have Is TIme, is the culmination of over a year of releases. It started with the song Start Again being released in March of 2023, and finishes with the EP as the final product.
Red Weather is a band made for anyone who has been a fan of any of the waves of emo we’ve seen over the years, but heavily influenced by the late 90s/early 00s and bands like The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, and Taking Back Sunday. They craft heartfelt songs that don’t lack in energy or atmosphere.
FFO: Calling out your fake friends at the top of your lungs, while singing along with your real friends (but not the band Real Friends, this is a different yet equally radical band).
Origami Angel – Feeling Not Found
Counter Intuitive Records
If you haven’t heard the name Origami Angel at any point over the last few years, you might be living under a rock, as they’ve continued to make a name for themselves with their varied, chaotic emo anthems.
If you told me they wrote your favourite pop punk song of the year, you’d be right. If you told me they wrote your favourite emo song of the year, you’d be right. If you told me they wrote your favourite jazzy mathy rock song of the year, you’d be right. This duo can do it all.
On their latest record, Feeling Not Found, they continue to cement their place in the upper echelon of today’s emo by being so much more than ‘just another emo band’.
FFO:Embracing the chaos and spontaneity of growing up and experiencing life with your friends.
The Man Motels – OLD WOUNDS
Mongrel Records
I don’t know what I was expecting when I first read the band name, The Man Motels, but I can promise you it didn’t fall in line with what I heard…but to be fair, I have no idea what I was expecting.
What you can expect when listening to their new second full length, OLD WOUNDS, is a hardcore band not afraid to wear their early 90s influences on their sleeve. In fact, what I love most about this band is their obvious grunge influence, without falling into the stoner emo grunge sound that’s out there. I enjoy those bands as well, but The Man Motels don’t lose any of that hardcore edge, when leaning into their grungier influences.
FFO: Two stepping in your favourite pair of ripped jeans, and flannel shirt.
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