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 a wrap, fall is officially here, and it’s time to look back on the best songs from the punk world released this past month. I highlight 8 below, but first, some recent lists, reviews, and features:
* How Balance and Composure embraced their truest selves on reunion LP With You In Spirit
* Tim Kasher talks new Cursive album, Omaha scene, emo & more on BV podcast
* Foxing‘s Eric Hudson on 10 songs that he’s cried to
* Worlds Greatest Dad‘s Maddie Duncan on 13 of their favorite pop country songs
* Public Opinion‘s 9 favorite 2000s rock songs
* September album reviews: Foxing, The Jesus Lizard, Origami Angel, Kill Lincoln, Worlds Greatest Dad, Regional Justice Center, Bright Eyes, Many Eyes (ex-Every Time I Die), Public Opinion, Skullpresser, and Heriot.
We’ve also got some new exclusive vinyl in the BV shop from Further Seems Forever, 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 September that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order.
Planes Mistaken For Stars – “Fix Me”
It feels surreal to even be writing about this. Planes Mistaken For Stars vocalist Gared O’Donnell passed away from stage III esophageal cancer three years ago, and his bandmates kept it under wraps that he wrote and recorded one last album of material with Planes amid his cancer treatment and global lockdown. It wasn’t mixed until after he passed, but otherwise it seems like the album was close to completion during Gared’s lifetime. Still, when I heard his voice on lead single “Fix Me” for the first time I felt like I’d seen a ghost. Here was Gared and the rest of Planes sounding as gritty, gravelly, and uniquely great as they ever have, and he sounds so lively, even though he probably knew he didn’t have much time left. But that’s only fitting; by multiple accounts, Gared was the kind of person who lived every day like it was his last. It makes sense that he would sound as hungry and fearless on his swan song as he did in his youth.
Pinhead Gunpowder – “Unt”
Green Day released their best album in 20 years this year, and I’d put some of those new songs (like “Bobby Sox”) up there with the band’s ’90s material. But if you really wanna hear Billie Joe Armstrong back in ’90s mode, then you should be very excited that Pinhead Gunpowder are back. “Unt” is the first taste and title track of their second-ever full-length album–their first new music since 2008’s West Side Highway EP and their first LP since 1997–and they sound remarkably similar to the stripped-back, no-frills pop punk that PHGP (and Green Day) made in the Clinton era. Billie Joe obviously and understandably isn’t interested in rehashing Dookie for the rest of his life, but “Unt” proves that when he does feel like doing that, he’s absolutely still got it.
Thirdface – “Meander”
Thirdface’s 2021 album Do It With A Smile is one of the most thrilling hardcore debut LPs in recent memory, and the Nashville band’s new single “Meander” makes me think they’re only getting better. In just two minutes, it incorporates elements of sludgy/noisy post-hardcore, high-speed D-beat, grindcore, and more, and it feels like you never know what’s gonna happen next, in the best way possible. If the rest of their sophomore LP Ministerial Cafeteria is even half as overwhelming as “Meander,” we’re in for a treat.
Candy – “Football”
Candy already released one of the year’s best albums so far with It’s Inside You (Relapse), and now they’ve teamed back up with hardcore label Triple B Records (who released their 2018 debut LP Good To Feel) to keep the momentum going with the new Flipping EP. Some of the best songs on It’s Inside You branch out from hardcore almost entirely, but the 58-second “Football” finds Candy at their fastest and hardest. I can’t make out the lyrics, but both the video and the EP artwork contrast “America’s ritualistic pleasure-seeking habits” with an array of global crises, and this song feels like the perfect soundtrack to that juxtaposition.
Secret World – “Living Less”
Secret World has members of a number of Australian hardcore bands (Speed, Downside, Hand of Mercy, Hellions, Beerwolf, and more), and this band seems to be their outlet for melodic hardcore/alt-rock crossover in the vein of bands like Turnstile, Drug Church, and Militarie Gun. It’s a familiar formula at this point, but Secret World do it really well, and “Living Less” is one of the catchiest new songs in this realm that I’ve heard in a minute.
Show Me The Body – “Stomach” (ft. High Vis)
In addition to being a great, genre-defying punk band, Show Me The Body are also great curators. Their tours always have impeccable lineups, and their “collaborative mixtape” series CORPUS finds them making songs with rappers, hardcore bands, electronic artists and more. The newly-released CORPUS II has a track with the similarly-shapeshifting UK punk band High Vis (who are opening SMTB’s ongoing North American tour), and it finds the two putting their heads together for a punk anthem that finds an exciting middle ground between both bands. From the driving post-punk rhythms to the shouted, hardcore-informed chorus, it’s catchy, and gritty, and it feels like it’ll be a banger if they play it live together.
Hey, ily! – “(Dis)Connected”
Hey, ily!’s post-genre post-emo has never sounded tighter than it does on “(Dis)Connected,” the lead single of their sophomore LP Hey, I Loathe You!. It’s a hard-charging emo-punk anthem with chiptune synths and a very singalong-able chorus that tackles the endlessly-plagued crossroads between mental health and social media.
Envy – “Whiteout”
The first single from Envy’s upcoming eighth album Eunoia found the Japanese screamo legends dipping their toes into shoegaze, which suits them very well, but don’t let that fool you into thinking there isn’t any screamo on this album. Second single “Whiteout” delivers a fusion of harsh screamo and towering post-rock that calls back to some of the band’s most classic records while serving as a reminder that nothing can slow this band down.
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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.
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Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.
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Top photo: Candy opening for The Dillinger Escape Plan at Brooklyn Paramount in June by Mathieu Bredeau. More here.