Hey y’all, it’s July. If Sunday nights are hard to fully enjoy because you know Monday is right around the corner, that’s how I’m feeling about July. This month is gonna be busy, since we’ll be spending a few unexpected weeks in California (my father-in-law’s funeral and a “oh crap, they pushed back the closing on the house we’re buying but we already put in our notice at our apartment so now we’re gonna be homeless for a few weeks” trip), and by the time we get back, it’ll basically be August and we’ll have a lot of new orientation and planning meetings since we will both be new at the local school district.
But at least live music is back! Or it’s gonna be back, shortly, right? I just got tickets to the Austin leg of the Rise Against / Descendents / The Menzingers tour, as well as Bully’s show at the Mohawk, but I’m really looking forward to supporting smaller/local bands as well. Spoon did a last minute show at Mohawk this week that I couldn’t have gone to but was very jealous of everyone that went.
Anyways, I’m gonna skip the usual monthly “best of” post, and share the music I’ve loved from the whole (first half of the) year. I haven’t done a mid-year post like this before, and I wasn’t planning on ranking them initially, since I haven’t had a lot of time to sit with some of these. However, I do have a running list that I keep in the notes section of my phone, and I’m interested to see how much this list changes from now until the end of the year. I have them divided up into full lengths, EPs, and a couple of bonus singles at the end. Let me know if the comments of any bands that you agree with or think I missed, thanks for reading!
EDIT: just short writeups for these ones, but feel free to go back into the posts from the past few months to find out more of what I had to say about them (with the exception of a few that I only recently came across or a few that I wrote about on a blog called That’s Good Enough For Me – speaking of which, you should definitely check out my reviews on Cluttered, Misgivings, Needles//Pins, and Talk Show Host).
RECORDS
12. Fake Fruit – Fake Fruit (Rocks In Your Head Records)
Post-punk is a weird genre, in that some of it I really love, and others I can’t stand at all. Really polarizing to my ears. Anyways, obviously this is the good stuff. You know I wouldn’t lead you astray.
11. Misgivings – Dream Neighbour (Lockjaw Records)
Indie-punk from the UK that kinda bums me out sometimes but in a good way, ya know?
10. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – When God Was Great (Hellcat Records)
Get w/the program and get a bandcamp account MMB. It’s the summer of ska and you make me go onto iTunes to buy this? C’mon man.
9. Needles//Pins – Needles//Pins (Dirt Cult Records)
Feels like I was finding new awesome Canadian bands at a pretty regular clip for a few months this year. These gruff punks are one of ’em. This and their previous record Good Night, Tomorrow have been in constant rotation the past few months.
8. Neckscars – Don’t Panic (Sell The Heart Records)
Considering that a lot of the bands I like are influenced by Hot Water Music, you’d think that I was a big fan of HWM. But I’m not. For example, Neckscars seem to sound a lot like HWM, but I like Neckscars better than HWM. So that’s my pitch – if you like HWM, these guys are even better.
7. Tenpera – Buffet (self-released)
I’ll admit that I have had the least amount of time with this one, so it could move around a bit in the year-end list. But I’m a sucker for bands from Spain and this kinda post-punk, and this is a twofer.
6. Hadda Be – Another Life (Last Night From Glasgow)
This record is such a vibe, great for driving in the rain or going on walks w/Miles and Ollie.
5. Talk Show Host – Mid-Century Modern (Wiretap Records)
Sometimes I wonder what 17-year-old me from 2002 would think of my current music tastes, but this is one that we would both agree is a gem. If you’re looking for the ultimate pop-punk summer record, this is it.
4. Mikey Erg – Mikey Erg (Rad Girlfriend Records)
I’m a simple man w/simple tastes, and this record checks a lot of my boxes. No frills punk-pop, fast and to the point before moving on to the next one. It might’ve ended up even higher if it was a little bit longer.
3. Tigers Jaw – I Won’t Care How You Remember Me (Hopeless Records)
I’ve only recently gotten into Tigers Jaw, and I don’t know how the die-hards rank this one in their discography, but it’s definitely grown on me this year and is one of my favorite TJ records now (their self-titled record is a masterpiece). I can and have listened to “Hesitation” on repeat many times this year.
2. Neighborhood Brats – Confines of Life (Dirt Cult Records)
This is such a great punk record. I listen to a lot of gruff, gravelly, bearded dude punk (no shame, I like what I like), but this album is such a breath of fresh air. This should be a big record and I haven’t seen nearly enough press on it. Any band that puts out a song called “All Nazis Must Die” is worth a listen.
1. Remember Sports – Like A Stone (Father/Daughter Records)
This is the one to beat. I mean, you can just enjoy music without comparing records, but I’ve listened to this so much, and the songwriting is so, so good. Love it love it love it. My Last.fm tells me that this is my most listened to record of 2021, and I don’t see that changing any time soon, heavy rotation, everyone with ears should check this out if they haven’t yet. “Sentimentality” is the first song on the Spotify playlist at the bottom of this post, just stop reading and go listen to it.
EP’s:
7. Sekunderna – Hjartat EP (Luftslott Records)
The best punk I’ve ever heard out of Sweden (besides that one band that wrote “No Cigar“.
6. Lxs Diamantes – Rocanrol Mutante (self-released)
Fun rock n roll from my favorite Argentines. There’s a few poppy songs, a few bangers, and “Johnny” is just a really, really good song. Love these guys.
5. Back East – Until It Ends (self-released)
I know I already referenced Millencolin, and Back East is from Switzerland, not Sweden, but if you like that brand of punk, Back East are yr dudes.
4. Bruce Lee Band – Division in the Heartland (Asian Man Records)
I’m not super into ska, but Mike Park remains one of the coolest dudes in music, and this EP is very good.
3. Lost In Society – Stay Jaded (Wiretap Records)
When I first heard this EP, I felt like I had already heard it before, and was just remembering it. Is that weird? Big Loved Ones/Gaslight Anthem vibes from these New Jersey punkers, really dig it.
2. Cluttered – Cluttered EP / Accidents (Sick Scene Productions / Bloated Kat Records)
I’m cheating a little and counting both of these EPs as one entry, because put ’em together (which is how I listen to them in my car), and you’d have a top five record of the year IMO. Obsessed w/this band.
1. Camp Trash – Downtiming (Count Your Lucky Stars Records)
Like Saves the Day covering Fountains of Wayne, “Bobby” is one of the best songs I’ve heard this year.
SINGLES:
Quaker Wedding – Russian Hill 7″ (self-released)
Quaker Wedding put out a top 10 record last year, and my Last.fm says it’s still one of my most listened to records of 2021. Very stoked for whatever they’re doing next, love these guys.
The Night Marchers – Wot’s Da Use 7″ (Swami Records)
Joe Strummer is my one music idol, but if there was a second, it would be living legend John Reis. Everything he does is great, from Rocket From the Crypt to Hot Snakes to Sultans to The Night Marchers to Swami John Reis to Back Off Cupids to his radio show that I used to listen to on FM94/9 that I think is on 91X now maybe or maybe it’s just on Spotify idk. More John Reis is always better.
SO, there you have it. I fudged the math a little bit, but there’s 21ish good music things to listen to from 2021. Here’s the accompanying Spotify playlist, you should listen to it. Then support the artists you like by buying their stuff or going to a show or sharing it w/a friend. Happy July y’all!
Radio Marcus 