Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone
Los Angeles-based punks Spanish Love Songs’ 2018 smash-hit Schmaltz dove deep into frontman Dylan Slocum’s personal struggles with internalized anxiety, depression, guilt, and isolation. This time around, however, he’s singing a different tune. On the band’s third full-length endeavor, Brave Faces Everyone, the five-piece turn their focus away from themselves, and point towards the struggles impacting the world around them. Each of the album’s 10 songs provide detailed observations of a society plagued with addiction, political turmoil, and climate change. The transition that occurs between energy-packed opener “Routine Pain” and the cautiously optimistic “Self Destruction (As a Sensible Career Choice)” is smooth, and the empathy woven within each track is nearly palpable. Throughout the LP, the listener is forced to question where we go from here when thoughts and prayers just aren’t good enough. I especially love the juxtaposition between “Generation Loss'” “Life is long enough…” and “Dolores’” “You know life isn’t long enough…” If AJJ’s Good Luck Everybody braces us for an uncertain future, SLS’ Brave Faces Everyone is a battle cry to get us through the present. I’m left with goosebumps and a strong AOTY contender. Listen on Spotify. -Sarah Masessa
Against All Logic - 2017 - 2019
On the surface, it's a bit of an oddity when a solo artist drops a side project with a different name, especially when the difference in personnel present is null. A further look allows the logic to start to take shape. If an artist is the cultivated image of a single person, their work under that name exists in space that is both fathomable and without finite restrictions. Against All Logic, the alternative monicker of Chilean-American composer and producer Nicolas Jaar, shows ample distinction on his latest project, 2017-2019, from his primary outputs to justify the alternative. While Jaar's primary output shifts in a more lucid direction - Against All Logic has taken shape to become his outlet for glitchy, cathartic, and at times unsettling dance music. Jaar's first LP under the secondary name, a collection of projects from 2012-2017, showed his chops as a sample-screwing and a limit-pushing party starter. 2017-2019 carries that legacy forward, proving that Against All Logic exists in a different galaxy than Jaar's other work, but deserves at least equal and arguably more attention. Listen on Spotify. -David McDevitt
Thank You, I'm Sorry - The Malta House
The debut album from Chicago’s Thank You, I’m Sorry is bold, vulnerable, and introspective. On The Malta House, vocalist Colleen Dow navigates the uncertainties of moving out of home, complicated relationships, and the struggles of working long hours. It’s an honest story centered around what it means to grow up and try to find one's purpose in a world that often feels just too big. Standout track “How Many Slugs Can We Throw Against the Wall…” examines the consequences of anxiety and self-doubt as related to our own goals. Lingering fears of dying alone and failure to accomplish anything of substance keep Dow awake at night and unable to celebrate the small victories. Although a deeply personal analysis, there’s a certain beauty woven within the album’s ability to resonate with the masses. Listen on Spotify. -Sarah Masessa
Church Girls - The Haunt
Philadelphia's Church Girls are putting a refreshing spin on post-punk, one that draws as much from 90s indie rock and 00s pop-punk as it does from the typical 80s stalwarts of the genre. Their new album, The Haunt, embellishes post-punk's typically prominent basslines and twitchy guitars with effortless catchiness, soaring vocal choruses, and a subtle, tasteful amount of Americana twang. Not only does it pack an impressive amount of ideas into its sub-thirty-minute runtime, it does so in a way that makes sense—fusing disparate genres of punk and rock to pull to highlight the best traits in each one. Listen on Spotify. -Camden Phalen
Green Day - Father of All...
Green Day have obviously been in the pop-punk game for a long time. And, honestly, the California trio still have what it takes to write a catchy tune. On Father of All… they resist political commentary for the road less traveled — a fun, sing-song, hook-filled joyride. Nearly every song makes me want to put on a leather jacket and ride into the sunset on a motorcycle. I appreciate the lightheartedness. I mean, we all deserve a little break from the pure insanity engulfing our world today. Track number two in particular, "Fire, Ready, Aim" provides an infectious punch for the rest of the album. It’s lucky album 13 for the pompous punks, and, in my opinion, they deliver raucous rhythm on a high note. Listen on Spotify. -Sarah Masessa
