In Defense of the Genre is a column on BrooklynVegan about punk, pop punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, ska-punk, and more, including and often especially the bands and albums and subgenres that weren’t always taken so seriously.
September is here, fall is fast approaching, and it’s time to look back on the best songs from the punk world released in August. I highlight 8 below, but first, some recent lists, reviews, and features:
* 10 punk supergroups doing great stuff right now
* Kill Lincoln declare ‘No Normal’ on new album (interview)
* A track-by-track breakdown and review of Combat‘s ambitious indie/emo/punk concept album Stay Golden
* Gel guitarist Maddi Nave picks 10 bands whose live show inspires them
* Green Day brought Dookie and American Idiot to Citi Field with The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas
* Something Corporate reunion & New Found Glory (playing Catalyst) brought emo nostalgia to Asbury Park
* August album reviews: Gel, Oso Oso, Fucked Up, Sonagi, Nails
We’ve also got some new exclusive vinyl in the BV shop from Drug Church, Thursday, The Story So Far, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, State Champs, Movements, Simple Plan, Speed, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Carpool, Destroy Boys, and more. If you haven’t done so yet, you can also pick up our exclusive Alexisonfire box set, reissues & magazine and our Glassjaw box set & book.
Head below for my picks of the 8 best songs of August that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order.
Foxing – “Hell 99”
Foxing have had some screamo in their DNA since their earliest recordings, and some of their most memorable moments over the years have been throat-shredding ones, but they’ve never gone full screamo the way they do on “Hell 99,” the second single off their self-titled fifth album. It’s one of their rawest, noisiest, most caustic songs. It defies the stereotype that bands get less heavy over time, and it feels like an especially bold move coming after Foxing’s poppiest album. And because it’s Foxing doing it, it’s different than everything else out there in this realm. It has a lot of raw-deal screamo, but it also has bright melodies, a hazy noise coda, and an overall feeling of disorienting paranoia. (The song’s subject matter and music video were inspired by the Y2K scare.) It’s a genuinely surprising move from a band who have been doing the unexpected for 12 years straight, a band who still approach everything like their best years are still ahead of them.
Ben Quad – “You’ll Get Nothing and Like It”
Apparently August was a really good months for bands going screamo. Emo Midwesterners Ben Quad signed to Pure Noise, and their first single for the new label picks up where 2022’s “You’re Part of It” left off, trading the band’s yelpy hooks for gritty screams. “You’ll Get Nothing and Like It” sounds nothing like the aforementioned Foxing song, but it has one thing in common: because Ben Quad are already so good at melodic songcraft, they pull off a heavy, aggressive song like this one in a way that’s catchy, memorable, and stands out from whatever you’d compare it to. I would guess that whatever album Ben Quad make next incorporates their cleaner side too, and their refusal to pick a lane only makes them stronger. To paraphrase what a wise meme once said, get you a band who can do both.
Destroy Boys – “You Hear Yes” (ft. Mannequin Pussy & Scowl)
“You Hear Yes” is the kind of classic feminist punk anthem that never goes out of style, with a message that everyone involved is sick of having to sing about, and Destroy Boys tapped two of the most commanding women in modern punk to help them deliver it: Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice and Scowl’s Kat Moss. It’s an anti-assault/harassment anthem with lines like “Why can’t I walk in the street without men bothering me?” and “I’m sick of being scared on my walk home,” and it all culminates in the hook of “You hear yes when I say no.” Marisa, Kat, and Destroy Boys’ own Alexia Roditis all sound great together as they turn anger and frustration into melodies that you can’t get out of your head.
We’ve also got an exclusive red & gold vinyl variant of the new Destroy Boys LP in our shop.
Regional Justice Center – “Take A Step Away”
Ian Shelton originally started the powerviolence band Regional Justice Center in 2016 as a way to unpack the experiences of his younger brother Max‘s incarceration, and Max co-wrote some of the band’s lyrics himself during his time in prison. After releasing their 2021 sophomore album Crime and Punishment, Ian’s more melodic band Militarie Gun started taking off more than anything else he’d ever done and seemingly became his main focus, but now RJC is back and the band looks a little different. Max was released in 2022, and he’s now officially a co-vocalist, alongside Ian. Frequent RJC/Militarie Gun producer Taylor Young is now officially a member too. RJC’s first song out with Max on vocals is the 64-second “Take A Step Away,” and it’s obvious off the bat that both Shelton brothers have a commanding presence. Max has a venomous scream that’s perfectly propped up by the band’s beefy metallic chaos. His new role in RJC has been a long time coming, and he sounds more than ready to let loose.
Kill Lincoln – “I’m Fine (I Lied)”
Kill Lincoln aren’t shy about wearing their fast, catchy, ’90s ska-punk influences on their sleeves (Less Than Jake, Suicide Machines, Catch 22, etc), but they’ve been doing it so well for so long that, at this point, I’d easily put Kill Lincoln themselves up there with any of their classic forebears. Their upcoming fourth album No Normal sounds even more fired-up than its breakthrough predecessor Can’t Complain, and that’s immediately evident from the album’s lead single/opening track “I’m Fine (I Lied).” It’s a high-speed circle-pitter with a chorus you feel like you’ve known all your life, and in classic Kill Lincoln fashion, there’s a self-deprecating sadness beneath the crowd-pleasing fun.
Squint – “Sunshine”
Squint have been a band to watch within the Drug Church/Militarie Gun-style hardcore/alt-rock crossover since their first EP, and now they’re getting ready to release their first full-length, Big Hand (due 10/25 via Sunday Drive), produced by frequent Drug Church collaborator Jon Markson. Will it live up to the hype? New single “Sunshine” makes me think yes. True to the song title, it’s the band’s brightest, poppiest song yet with a huge soaring chorus, and it’s also just as gritty and abrasive as Squint have always been. Squint are after the same midpoint between raw aggression and pop songcraft that’s made everything from Zen Arcade to Nevermind to Glow On such enduring records, and “Sunshine” is one of their best bids yet.
Hidden Mothers – “Defanged”
Hidden Mothers caught my ear with their self-titled debut EP back in 2020, and now, four years later, they’re set to release their first full-length Erosion / Avulsion on November 29 via Church Road. The first single is a five-minute song called “Defanged,” and they cover so much ground on it that it feels like a sampler of everything this band is capable of. It reminds me at various points of Thrice, Underoath, Deafheaven, and Alexisonfire, offering up everything from bone-crushing metalcore to a soaring clean-sung passage to a gorgeous post-rocky coda. If this is just one song on the album, I’m very optimistic about what else the LP has in store.
Bad Operation – “I Don’t Wanna Know”
Along with everything else they do, Bad Operation understand that ska is a form of dance music. Their ska doesn’t have much to do with punk (though Bad Op are one of the punkest bands around), and they embrace a crucial element of ska that too many ska-infused punk bands lack: groove. Since releasing their instant-classic 2020 debut album, they’ve been one of the most beloved bands in the New Tone Ska scene (named after a term they coined), and everything they’ve done since has stayed true to the clear, unique focus and vision laid out on that LP. New single “I Don’t Wanna Know” is no exception. Its hook is so simple and memorable that you’ve got more than enough time to learn it before their tour starts in a few days (September 5), and it’s got an especially rich horn section, with trombonist/keyboardist D-Ray joined by Bad Time Records’ in-house horns duo Jeremy Hunter (aka JER) and Em Williams. And once again, that groove is one for the ages.
(Bad Op’s tour is with the other ska band in this post, Kill Lincoln, plus The Suicide Machines, HEY-SMITH, and more.)
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In an effort to cover as many bands as possible, I try to just do one single per album cycle in these monthly roundups, so catch up on previous months’ lists for even more:
For even more new songs, listen below or subscribe to our playlist of punk/emo/hardcore/etc songs of 2024.
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Browse our selection of hand-picked punk vinyl.
Subscribe for free to the BV digital magazine to instantly read mag-exclusive stories on Paramore, Mannequin Pussy, and more.
Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.
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Top photo: Foxing at LPR in 2022 by Amanda Hatfield. More here.