Music

Top 5 Punk Releases: November

by Sam Sutherland

Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Punk Releases:
November

 

Future of the Left – Polymers are Forever

This six song EP was just meant to tide eager fans over until Future of the Left’s third full-length, The Plot Against Common Sense, scheduled for release in 2012. But it does a lot more than that, providing a high-energy look at the direction the band is headed in with their first new material since the early 2009 release of Travels with Myself and Another. In many ways, the band is looking backwards, returning to the synth-heavy sound of their first two albums, a shift that aliented some fans of mclusky, the all-guitar-no-bullshit former band of voclaist and guitarist Andy “Falco” Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone. Listening to Polymers gives the listener the impression that, now that the success of Travels has earned the band a fanbase all their own, they’re officially free to do any damn thing they please. Which is exciting when you’re this weird and diverse.

Good Luck – Without Hesitation

Good Luck have made a minimal, under-the-radar career of unclassifiable pop-punk, the kind that made the Weakerthans famous and makes people forget that, seriously, half of the Weakerthans catalogue is totally pop-punk. Good Luck play with the genre the same way as their spiritual peers in the ‘Peg, writing catchy, literate songs infused with punk energy but played with an ear to outside influences and atypical sounds and structure. Without Hestitation continues where Into Lake Griffy left off, but beefs up the band’s sound with even better songs and starker, cleaner, perfectly minimal production touches. Sensitive and clever dudes and ladies who love to rock, this is your record.

Marvelous Darlings – Single Life

Even though he’s proven a valuable addition to Fucked Up’s eighteen-person roster, Ben Cook’s rock and roll day job guitaring and back-up vocal-ing with Toronto’s art-weirdo hardcore heavywieghts has meant the unfortunate sidelining of his million side projects, including the outrageously mod Marvelous Darlings. The fact that everyone except Cook looks like Rod Stewart makes the band kind of goofy, but that’s kind of the point — as this collection of the band’s single releases demonstrates, Marvelous Darlings is a band hellbent on quality homage and having a good time, like the Sweet or Boomtown Rats run through Cook’s TO hardcore pedigree. Hopefully the time off from Fucked Up’s busy touring schedule will mean some support for this record, which would make a believer out of even the most ardent Small Faces hater.

Signals Midwest – Latitudes & Longitudes

Holy shit, do you remember Fairweather? Okay, cool. Well, if you happen to remember that early oughts Equal Vision outfit, you’re going to love this band without hesitation. If you somehow missed their short career, which I suppose makes sense, Signals Midwest is much bigger than the influence of one short-lived Virginia-based band. Melding the aggression and post-hardcore guitar style of Small Brown Bike with the youthful, anthemic quality of Latterman, Latitudes & Longitudes is a shocking album, mostly in the sense that you can’t believe eighteen of your friends didn’t tell you to check it out at the same time. So, seriously, go check it out.

Torche / Part Chimp – Split EP

Well, that was surprising — Torche covering three Guided By Voices songs as their half of this split with England’s Part Chimp. The covers work because Torche has always been, essentially, a super-heavy pop band, as the go-to tag of “Sabbath-meets-Cheap-Trick” has always suggested. The songs are perfectly sludgy and catchy, and would easily be mistaken for normal Torche songs under different circumstances. Part Chimp’s lo-fi, heavy, ambient tunes can’t quite hold up against the almighty Torche, but they’re worthy split-mates, and their entirely different sound makes this an enjoyably diverse, complete listen.

Surprises, disappointments and albums to watch for next month

Surprise of the month: Instead of becoming the biggest “popcore” band in the world, Four Year Strong became the biggest popcore band in the world to try to sound like the Foo Fighters with In Some Way, Shape or Form. Shifts in artistic direction aren’t always huge surprises, but when you’ve eked out an existence in the fun, probably-calculated way that FYS have, making such a huge left turn into the crowded field of super-boring radio-rock is a weird maneuver. Good luck out in the big, scary real world, boys.

Disappointments: Straight up, In Some Way, Shape or Form is pretty awful.

Out in December: Lots of bad Christmas albums and a new Gallows EP.